Basic Regulation Article 71 amendment

Overview

Article 71 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 (the Basic Regulation) is a flexibility provision that allows the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to grant exemptions from the requirements of Chapter III of the Basic Regulation and regulations made under that Chapter (apart from essential requirements).

Article 71 currently only allows exemptions based on urgent operational need, or urgent and unforeseeable circumstances, and is subject to several further conditions on its use. These limitations confine the CAA’s discretion in matters of safety, and restrict the CAA’s ability to issue exemptions from the requirements of assimilated safety law. They are also mis-aligned with similar flexibility provisions under Article 266 of the Air Navigation Order 2016, which has no equivalent constraints on its use.

The CAA is considering recommending that the Department for Transport (DfT) amend Article 71 to remove the restrictions on its use in order to enable the CAA to support new and developing technologies, regulate for growth and maintain ongoing high standards of safety. More details of these proposals are set out within this consultation. 

What are the regulations? 

Regulations contain requirements which must be complied with. The CAA’s statutory role is to consider the required content of regulations, consult on our proposed changes to the regulations, take consultation responses into account before forming a final view and then communicate that view to the Secretary of State (Department for Transport) in the form of an Opinion. Our Opinions are published. 

The Secretary of State makes the final decision whether to implement CAA’s proposed changes to the regulations, and the final wording of the regulations. The proposed wording of the regulations in this consultation may well change if and when the Secretary of State decides to amend the regulations.

This consultation

Before proceeding with any proposed amendments to the current provisions, which will require a Statutory Instrument by the Department for Transport and changes to the Basic Regulation, the CAA wishes to obtain stakeholder views and feedback on the proposed amendment to Article 71 of the Basic Regulation to remove the requirements for urgency and the statutory conditions imposed on the use of these powers.

Why your views matter

It is important to the CAA that everyone has an opportunity to voice their opinion on matters that could affect them. There is also a legal requirement to consult when creating or amending regulations. For these reasons, we are asking for comments on these proposed changes.

We welcome comments from every sector of the community. This includes the general public, government agencies and all sectors of the aviation industry, whether as an aviator, aviation consumer and/or provider of related products and services.

Responses to this consultation can be submitted by no later than 30 September 2025.

The policy proposal is available under the “Share Your Views” link below, in section 6.